As is well known, a semiconductor wafer has a plurality of ICs or LSIs formed on its front side, and it is separated in the form of chips by dicing the semiconductor wafer along its crossing streets, so that they may be used in a variety of electronic apparatuses.
Semiconductor wafers have been ground away on the rear sides until their thickness is reduced to be 100 or less μm or 50 or less μm thick these days. Such thin wafers are difficult to be handled because of their softness like paper. As a remedy, therefore, they are stuck to support disks of good rigidity, thereby facilitating the grounding and transporting of such thin objects.
After grinding semiconductor wafers to be as thin as required, their support disks are removed from the semiconductor wafers, and then adhesive tapes are applied to the so ground semiconductor wafers for dicing. The semiconductor wafers, however, are so thin that it is very difficult to remove the adhesive tapes after being diced.
Alternatively the semiconductor wafers are grooved on the front sides along crossing streets, and the so grooved semiconductor wafers are ground on the rear sides until the grooves appear to separate each wafer into squares (commonly called “pre-dicing method”). As is known, such grooved semiconductor wafers are stuck to support disks of good rigidity before dicing, and they are removed from the support disks after dicing. It is, however, very difficult to remove the thin semiconductor chips from the support disks without damage.
What is aimed at the method for manufacturing chips by the present invention, therefore, is to permit semiconductor wafers or semiconductor chips to be removed from the support disks without being broken or damaged.